The
article is highly relevant to the ongoing peasant struggle
in Rajasthan (Sikar) today. It examines the historical
evidence that shows that the emergence of economically
and politically dominant landlords from among Jat, and
to a smaller extent Brahmin, castes in Shekhawati is
a relatively recent phenomenon. Peasant struggles in
Shekhawati in the first half of the twentieth century
brought an end to the shackles of the Jagirdari system,
which fundamentally changed the structure of control
over land with tenants-at-will getting ownership rights
over land.
*
This
article was originally published in the Statistics on
Indian Economy and Society on September 13, 2017. |
